USB soundcard for bad microphone?

[Juusuhako]

Hi all,

I have a ModMic 5 plugged to a Creative ZxR. Despite both what I'd consider rather high-end, my mates are telling me I sound off/mumbling and are having a hard time hearing me. Therefore I figured I'd try out a USB soundcard. Do I just go with Antlions own or is it all the same? Amazons reviews on Antlions arent exactly the best...

[rice guru]

11 hours ago, Juusuhako said:

Hi all,

I have a ModMic 5 plugged to a Creative ZxR. Despite both what I'd consider rather high-end, my mates are telling me I sound off/mumbling and are having a hard time hearing me. Therefore I figured I'd try out a USB soundcard. Do I just go with Antlions own or is it all the same? Amazons reviews on Antlions arent exactly the best...

Neither are really high end. If you want to just try things consider the sound blaster g6 the mic in on that might be clean. But honestly I would also just reccomend. Uying a new mic like a blue snowball mount that on an arm and put that up to your face.

[Juusuhako]

2 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Neither are really high end. If you want to just try things consider the sound blaster g6 the mic in on that might be clean. But honestly I would also just reccomend. Uying a new mic like a blue snowball mount that on an arm and put that up to your face.

Bit of an expensive option for a clean microphone signal  

 

Given the ZxR pricetag I really shouldn't expect such quality... Unless it's the microphone that's bad, or there's just too much noise from my other components, idk. Certainly not interested having an entire arm in my face, though. Thanks for the suggestions nontheless.

[AAJoe]

Hi @Juusuhako - 

SOOOooooo - Long story short is if you can I would switch to our new ModMic USB. If this is a recent purchase just change it out for that. If not, we need to first figure out what the noise is. Most likely it is either EMI or RF interference. EMI comes from the PC and RF comes from nearby wireless signals. It could also be a grounding issue, though that is less likely given the ZxR interface.

 

Easiest way to tell that is jump in our Discord and DM me, @AntlionJoe or just drop a recording into the Support channel and tag @staff and we'll take a listen and give you our opinion.  https://discord.gg/Jn6x7uc

We're here to help - but if you want to try on your own, check out this link: https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/whats-that-noise to help diagnose the source of the problem.

[Juusuhako]

42 minutes ago, AAJoe said:

Hi @Juusuhako - 

SOOOooooo - Long story short is if you can I would switch to our new ModMic USB. If this is a recent purchase just change it out for that. If not, we need to first figure out what the noise is. Most likely it is either EMI or RF interference. EMI comes from the PC and RF comes from nearby wireless signals. It could also be a grounding issue, though that is less likely given the ZxR interface.

 

Easiest way to tell that is jump in our Discord and DM me, @AntlionJoe or just drop a recording into the Support channel and tag @staff and we'll take a listen and give you our opinion.  https://discord.gg/Jn6x7uc

We're here to help - but if you want to try on your own, check out this link: https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/whats-that-noise to help diagnose the source of the problem.

It is unfortunately not a recent purchase. My brother bought it years ago and while using it on his onboard it was absolutely unbearable, so he went back to a regular headset with built-in mic. with USB. The noise from what I gather is not severe while on-call when using onboard myself, but it's there... When using ZxR it can become unclear when I speak because, I believe, ZxR's "noise reduction" is simply bad. It attempts to remove any background noise so much to a point where it also affects speaking clarity.

 

I dont see the USB version available in my country right now (Denmark), it also seems rather new. I've just purchased your USB Sound Card, which more or less should make it a USB version, right? At least I hope so, its not exactly a cheap piece of hardware... Will receive it tomorrow and report back.

 

edit: I should probably clarify that ZxR uses a 6.35mm jack for mic., so I am using an adapter inbetween sound card and mic... Dunno if that adapter affects anything though. 

[AAJoe]

Yeah the 6.35mm adapter isn't going to help - that is for sure.

 

The USB should be a big improvement here, it's not exactly the same as having a built in USB for several reasons, but it will be close. The biggest of which is our new ModMic line has much better RF resistant shielding, we now have a pre-amp at the mic tip, which helps with the EMI by giving you a better signal to noise ratio, and the ADC chipset we use is consistent, which means it always sounds the same vs. USB sticks, which will vary based on firmware settings, chipset, and construction.

 

Anyway, I suspect your USB solution will be perfect and not an issue If it doesn't work, drop me a DM and I will have another plan in mind for ya.

[Juusuhako]

I've sent you a PM.